Plus500 YTD revenues up 27%, PureTech and Nektar Therapeutics terminate merger talks

London pre-open

The FTSE 100 was being called to open 33.2 points lower ahead of the bell on Tuesday after closing 0.45% softer in the previous session at 6,959.31.

Stocks to watch

Fintech group Plus500 said on Tuesday that it had delivered a "further outstanding financial and operational performance", with ongoing strategic progress seen throughout the nine months ended 30 September.

Plus500 stated year-to-date revenues had increased 27% year-on-year to $705.9m, while underlying earnings rose 29% to $407.1m and EBITDA margins widened 2% to 58%.

Healthcare company PureTech and Nektar Therapeutics have terminated merger talks only four days after they announced a potential tie-up.

"These discussions were early in nature and the required announcement created the impression that discussions were more advanced than they were," PureTech said on Tuesday. "Given the early stage of the discussions and the potential for an extended period of uncertainty, these discussions were terminated."

Newspaper round-up

Kwasi Kwarteng will need to find £60.0bn of savings by 2026 to fill the gap left by unfunded tax cuts and the costs of extra borrowing triggered by a panicked reaction on international money markets to the chancellor's "mini-budget", according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies. The UK will also struggle to hit the chancellor's 2.5% growth target, with economic forecasts by the investment bank Citigroup that the IFS uses to underpin its analysis showing the UK will struggle to grow at more than 0.8% on average over the next five years. – Guardian

The boss of Santander UK says the bank is putting aside more money for potential defaults linked to the cost of living crisis after seeing a pickup in customers falling behind on mortgage and loan payments. Mike Regnier told the Guardian that he was keeping a close eye on the "strain and pressure" facing customers as a result of the cost of living crisis, which has made it harder for some households to keep up with rising food and energy bills and financial commitments such as home loans. – Guardian

More than one in three businesses are planning to raise workers' pay to match or exceed inflation as companies battle to retain staff amid widespread shortages. According to a survey conducted by the Confederation of British Industry, three-quarters of businesses have been impacted by labour shortages over the last year, with half of those reporting they cannot meet demand from customers as a result. – Telegraph

A private equity backed-challenger to BT has secured nearly £1.0bn in funding to expand its full-fibre network across London, the latest injection of capital into the so-called "alt nets" taking on the former state monopoly. Community Fibre, which is backed by US fund Warburg Pincus, Deutsche Telekom, infrastructure fund Amber and the railways pensions scheme, is planning to wire up 2.2m London homes to full-fibre broadband by 2024. – Telegraph

Joules, which has 130 stores, said an insolvency deal with creditors and landlords could be a way to head off a collapse that has led to its shares falling sharply. A multimillionaire car dealer who has just become the second largest shareholder in Joules says he has not ruled out taking part in a rescue of the beleaguered fashion retailer. – The Times

US close

Wall Street stocks closed lower on Monday as market participants prepped for a busy week full of Q3 bank earnings.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.32% at 29,202.88, while the S&P 500 was 0.75% weaker at 3,612.39 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 1.04% softer at 10,542.10.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com